I was in church today and during worship practice, one of the piano players was messing with some chords and it reminded me of a song that starts off: "I hear the voice of one calling, I hear the voice of one calling: Prepare ye, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. . ." I suddenly felt the Holy Spirit's presence and began to pray in my heart. I asked God to come into this place (the church) and to comfort the hearts and minds and spirits of the people gathered in His name. And as I prayed, I saw in my mind's eye a picture of a heart that had cracks in it.
So I asked God to heal the broke hearts of His people. But He responded: "I let them be broken." Before I could think that through, He said:"Watch and see what I can do with a broken heart." And as I watched, I saw the breath of God flow toward the heart and enter into the cracks of the heart. I expected to see the cracks mend and for the heart to be healed, but that's not what happened. The cracks began to glow and more cracks began to appear. The heart began to pulse and shake and light started pouring out of the cracks as they grew wider and wider until the pieces of what I now recognized as a shell around the heart began to snap and fall off revealing what at first looked like a raw and exposed heart underneath. Then, when the shell had completely fallen off, I saw that the heart was pumping and had a slight glow and it was growing. Then I heard God speak again: "When people get hurt they guard themselves so that it won't happen again, but they don't realize that the wounds that they receive are not sores to be 'healed', but openings for my breath of life to enter and bring life and growth. Instead they build a shell around their hearts so that they won't be hurt and also stop My opportunities to live through them and show them how limitless I can be in them. Every new wound is an opportunity to receive My presence and My life on a level greater than they knew before."
It was then that I realized the when Jesus said to turn the other cheek, it wasn't about being "walked all over", it was about us letting God touch a person from our cheek to their hand and God filling us with His love and compassion and allowing us to live in a reality not possible without His touch.
Wow! Shaking off that shell is tough, but so rewarding. Thank you so much for beautiful picture.
ReplyDeleteThree years ago I was wandering around [mental hospital] completely shattered physically, emotionally and spiritually. The mental torment I was experiencing was absolutely terrifying. Every waking second, I was having horrifying images from my past. I thought I was being punished for my past sins. My whole life flashed before my eyes and I felt I had failed miserably in my journey through life. The whole experience was an awakening [THE LONG DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL] a metamorphosis. God was slowly penetrating the shield I had put up all those desperate years. I had no "I" - that is what God wanted for me, to become Christ centered, not “I” centered [in retrospect]. There is nothing in this world, but the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He eventually delivered me from my HELL; when I got down on my knees and asked Him for mercy and forgiveness for my sins. God breathed on me. Praise the LORD!!
ReplyDeletePEACE BE WITH YOU
MICKY
WOW Benjamin, this is the most powerful thing I have read so far I think (well to me anyway considering where I am and where I have been). I would like to copy and keep this to read again and think on it if you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteBecki